And Then We Grow Up

Summary: The story is about a man trying to forget his past,his responsibilities in order to get back his freedom, be young again.But little does he know that fate soon catches up with him,in a horrifying way.

Chapter 1

“Old people disappear all
the time here.”
This made me uneasy. The first person I try to
make an acquaintance with has already been successful in making me apprehensive
of this new town.
New town. New people. A new life.
Same old dread.
All I ever wanted was some peace of mind. So I
left my hectic, high-profile job for a quieter life. A nice, small place where
I wouldn’t be bothered and would live my life happily forever. And now this.
Talk about irony.
Trying to comfort myself of being still in my
mid-20s, I joked, “Well what about young people?”
The man opened one of his eyes and leered. He
spat and looked at me again. Then he spoke in a low, grave voice. “Young
people? What young people?”
I looked around. Most of the people either had a
walking stick or trudged with great difficulty. Wrinkles, bald heads and saggy
skin. This was definitely weird. No young people around. Not one. Except me.

I had moved into a small house with a kitchen
and a room. Nothing fancy. Nothing that could remind me of the past. I had left
it all behind—the expensive studio, the Vividus bed, the Rolex watch, the
Lamborghini Aventador, the pregnant wife, the dying mum, the dead dog. I had
deleted all my online accounts, thrown my cellphone into the river on the way
here. I took out all the cash I had. I just wanted to disappear. I got up, undressed
and went into the bathroom. I looked into the mirror and smiled at myself.
Handsome face, decent jawline, a muscular Adonis in the prime of his youth. I
looked closely at myself. A white hair! Shit. I snatched at it like it was some
weed and sent it whirling down, slowly into the dustbin.

That night I couldn’t sleep. Each time I tried
to close my eyes, something or the other woke me up. The slight scratching on
the window, the probable knock on the door, the howling wind, the rustle of
leaves. Hours passed. Somewhere around morning, silence ensued, and I fell
asleep. I started dreaming.
I was relaxing myself on the beach. A sunny day.
Boys playing volleyball. Women sunbathing in their skimpy outfits. Children
building sand castles. Peace of mind, finally. The very next moment, it all
turned dark. I stood up and looked around. There was nobody. The waves that
seemed pleasant earlier had now started billowing. They seemed to get larger
with every passing minute and then, they started chasing me as if they wanted
to devour me.
I ran. I looked back. The vicious waves chased
me like a beast pursuing its prey. I turned and ran for my life. I could see
something far away. Some light, something. “A door!” I shouted, “The door!!”
I woke up in a frenzy. Unconsciously, I ran for
the door but my knees began to buckle. My back was hurting. I felt impotent as
I reached the door with great difficulty. I looked at my hands. Thin and weak
and wrinkly. As I opened the door, I found the same man I’d met earlier leering
at me. “It’s time,” he said and spat.He was wearing an old hoodie and had a
rusty scythe in his hand. He kept looking at his watch. I tried to make out the
time but couldn’t. I tried to speak but found my tongue lolling freely in a maw
with no teeth. My head began to spin and I desperately clasped it with both
hands. I was bald.

Write a Review
Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
Rishav Kumar

Diane April:
Really liked the concept of this story. The beginning had a great explanation about how things worked in the real world that people tend to overlook. It was a nice change from the usual zombie story that just makes things up as they go along and actual facts don't matter.

Bradley Darewood:
I really really really liked this. I just voted for you!The voice is flawless-- I can't write men as well as you do and I have a penis. Maybe I'm narcissistic but I particularly enjoyed the moment where he muses about how artists would do better in such a solitary job. But my favorite moment ...

Alex Rushmer:
I like the intrigue that you introduce from the very beginning of the story. The idea of the girl waking up in the alley with no memory of how she got there and with injuries is very interesting. It was very well done. There were a lot of grammatical errors that need to be fixed though. I think t...

Jacquie Walker:
This is one of the best books I have had the pleasure to read. Claudio has created a very "real" world brought alive as his words paint a rich tapestry of the lives of his characters and the world they live in as they journey toward their destiny.I recommend this to all who love this genre.... it...

Darren Powell:
Very nice read. Lots of surprising treats from: Schrodinger’s cat and dervish dance forms; to sensei masters and brownian motion. I wasn't expecting this, so it was a pleasant discovery.Also liked the 'cross-over' events connecting one character's/or group's journey to another. I like how that wa...

:
The book was hella great. You never know what's going to happen next. There's a lot of clues that shows to the next scene. I thought Miley and David would marry each other in this book but too my disappointment, they didn't. I have a ques. Will there be a part two to this book?

Kiz16:
After a truly shocking start to the story, I found the style and content slowed down as the author introduced a varied group of characters who I thought were fleshed out very well. After a slow couple of chapters, I found this story difficult to leave with the tension growing within the house. Yo...

Maryam Rehman:
The story was overall amazingly penned down. I loved how the story transitioned from the lavish city of London to the war torn Aleppo. Even though the story had some loopholes in some places, it made me contemplate failing in chemistry, because I was up all night glued to my mobile screen rather ...

Someone:
This was a fun, entertaining read. Although the novel wasn’t stylistically polished, and although the first couple of chapters struggled to hold my attention, the rest of the novel was engaging and beautifully done. You had me fooled until the end. The rest of this review will contain spoilers fo...

Jordan Young:
*ALERT FOR POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Where to start? I don't know how to sum up this review, this story was absolutely sensational. Brilliant. Flawless. I loved every single bit of this story, it is truly amazing. I read this story in fifteen hours, it is magnificent. I loved everything about it, the p...

CornflowerBlues:
I'm liking everything about this story so far: the brazen detective, the way he gave in to temptation, the temptation (<3!!), and the unexpectedly complex backdrop of his job and the case he's working. The story is well written, and despite its erotica tag, has an intriguing detective story and a...

Sarah_M_G:
This story was truly gripping from start to finish. The way the author used Scottish dialect throughout the novel really helped to put you in he in the place where it was all happening. Every character was well described and thought out. How they all fitted together really worked and loved how t...